“The Case Against Anger Control Treatment Programs for Batterers,” by
Edward Gondolf and David Russell, Response 9:3 (1986), pp. 2-5.

THE CASE AGAINST ANGER CONTROL FOR BATTERERS

Treatment programs for men who batter have only developed with in the
last seven years or so, largely in response to the shelter movement for
batter women (Schechter, 1982). In the process, their has been a
gradual refinement of treatment approaches and some emerging consensus
among the 90 programs now operating for batterers (Pirog-Good and Stets-Kealey,
1985). Batterer programs for the most part include a group discussion
format which incorporates anger control, communication skills, and sex
role resocialization (Edleson, 1984; Saunders, 1984, Purdy and Nickle,
1981).

However, these aspects receive varying degrees of emphasis from program
to program. In fact there are an increasing number of programs in which
anger control is central to the treatment (Deschner, 1984; Sonkin et al.,
1985; Neidig et al., 1985). This trend toward anger control does not account
for the fundamental theoretical differences in the field (Gondolf, 1985b).
Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence that anger control, or any
other treatment, is effective in ending physical and emotional abuse (Gondolf,
1987).

Our clinical observations and assessments, moreover, suggest that anger
control as a treatment tool must be used with great caution. In fact, batterer
programs may do well not to use anger control given its possible misuse
by many batterers. To illustrate our position, we discuss the assumptions
of anger control, its limitations and shortcomings, and some alternatives
to its use.

THE ASSUMPTIONS OF ANGER CONTROL The anger control techniques now being widely used in batterer
programs are based largely on the cognitive psychological model of anger
and aggression developed primarily by Navaco (1975). The model, in
contrast to biochemical or psychoanalytic models, implies that an individual
can consciously redirect or reduce his or her dysfunctional anger. In other
words, we can control our hostilities rather than succumb to them.

Essentially, the model presents a complex arrangement of feedback loops
that include the following principal components. A provocation instigates
a physiological arousal that is labelled anger. This “anger” is then
translated into one of several behaviors, usually aggression for men.
The consequences of this behavior often serve to provoke more arousal and
the anger intensifies.

Anger control is designed to make the individual more aware of this
process and enable him or her to intervene in it. Very simply, the
anger control techniques attempt to enhance specific cognitive and behavioral
skills. Cognitively, they include attentional, restructuring and
self-instructional skills. The attentional skills include the ability
to recognize provocation cues and physiological signs of arousal.
Anger logs are often used to promote this awareness. The restructuring
skills include adjusting expectations and reappraising the circumstances
that provoke arousal. Role plays often are used in this regard.
Self-instruction skills refer to the self-talk that is commonly used to
relabel the arousal and/or behavioral choice.

The behavioral skills promoted by anger control include arousal reduction,
communication enhancement and problem-solving. Arousal reduction uses stress
management techniques such as progressive relaxation exercises and calming
visualizations. Communication enhancement includes “time outs” to inform
the annoyer of the arousal and more assertive expression of feelings.
Problem-solving takes the form of developing alternatives to aggression
and identifying the constraints in one's environment that may provoke arousal.

When anger control is employed in batterer programs, these techniques
are usually preceded by exercises and discussion that alert the batterer
to the severity and nature of his abuse. This procedure is intended
to reduce the denial and minimization of abuse. Also, integrated into the
treatment is exposure to the sex role assumptions that contribute to the
unrealistic expectations and appraisals that the batterers hold of their
wives or lovers.

ANGER CONTROL AND BATTERERSAnger control no doubt contributes to the redirection or reduction
of anger and of aggression in many individuals. The question is how
well suited is it for batterers. Does it help end wife abuse, as
opposed to only reduce dysfunctional anger? Two, does it lend itself
to misuse by counselors and batterers? In other words, is anger control
effective if properly employed, and is it likely to be properly implemented
by this particular population?

Our clinical experience and preliminary evaluations lead us to answer
"no" to these important questions. For one, wife abuse is not necessarily
anger-driven, but more the consequence of a socially imposed "need" to
control women. Two, batterers readily reduce anger control to a set
of gimmicks that enables them to get their way less violently while continuing
their abuse.
I
n a follow-up study of batterers who had participated in the Second
Step program in Pittsburgh (Gondolf, 1984), the less successful men more
frequently cited anger control techniques as their means for reducing abuse,
even though anger control comprised a very small part of the program.
The more successful men, however, were more likely to cite empathy, a redefinition
of their manhood, and more cooperative decision-making as the means of
ending their abuse. Furthermore, our indepth interviews with reformed batterers
(those who had been non-violent for at least ten months) revealed a change
process that went well beyond the scope of anger control (Gondolf and Hanneken,
1987.)

These findings led us to conclude that the less successful program
participants were often avoiding the change process by reverting expediently
to anger control techniques. Most of their wives and partners in
fact reported that while in some cases the physical abuse was lessening,
the psychological abuse intensified. As one worker in the shelter
movement observed, many programs are simply producing "nonviolent terrorists."

THE SHORTCOMINGS OF ANGER CONTROLTherefore, we have seriously reconsidered the assumptions of anger
control and its implementation with batterers. In the process, we
have derived the following shortcomings of anger control. In our view,
these shortcomings offer a case against anger control for batterers.

1. Anger control assumes a family systems interpretation of abuse in
which the wife acts to provoke the anger. One of the first steps
to conventional anger control is to identify a hierarchy of provocations,
which in the case of wife abuse includes annoying behaviors of the wife
or lover. As Schechter (1982) argues, such an assumption wrongly
implies that the wife is an accomplice in the abuse, and should in some
way change her behavior in order to reduce the abuse. The alternative
feminist view suggests an oppressor/oppressed interpretation of wife abuse.
That is, wife abuse is the result of a more powerful and dominating man
relentlessly using abuse to control and subject a woman.

2. Anger control fails to account for the premeditated controlling
behaviors associated with abuse. From most accounts, wife abuse is
a syndrome of terror inflicted on the women through direct and indirect
controlling and degrading behaviors (Edleson et al., 1985). It is
not merely a series of impulsive, angry incidents, but often a premeditated
system of debilitating control. If a batterer stops hitting a women or
verbally degrading her, abuse does not necessarily end. In fact the psychological
abuse of manipulative and isolating behaviors may continue and be as emotionally
devastating as physical abuse.

3. Anger control tends to diffuse the responsibility of the abuse and
prolong the batterer's denial. The batterers' denial of abuse, as
a number of clinical reports suggest, is particularly acute (Bernard and
Bernard, 1984). Many batterers, therefore, use anger as another excuse
for their abuse, much as they blame alcohol, stress, or other individuals.
Regardless of whether these factors contribute to abuse, the men theraputically
need to accept full responsibility for their behavior in order to begin
the process of personal change.

The anger control may, furthermore, feed the batterers’ tendency toward
self-pity and self-deception. The focus on their anger causes some
men to dwell on their own emotional discomfort rather than the more severe
pain that they have caused others. While this can be theraputic,
it can also led to self justification and victim blaming.
Moreover, anger control reinforces the willfulness of many batterers
and promotes their tendency to ignore deeper more relevant feelings.
The “official recognition” of control in anger control leads many batterers
to believe that the way to stop abuse is to simply to extend their control
to one more aspect of their lives -- their emotions. Instead, the batterer
needs to be encouraged to "let go" of much of his control.

4. Anger control is often misrepresented as a quick-fix that may endanger
battered women. The vast majority of men who join batterer programs
do so in response to their wives' leaving them, threatening to leave, or
taking legal action. The men therefore tend to use the program the
same way they use their violence -- to manipulate and control their wives.
After learning a few anger control techniques, many batterers will
claim that they have the problem "under control" and lure their wives in
to returning. The men in anger control treatment usually enter a
self-congratulatory phase in which they feel that they are really getting
better and deserve praise. Their wives or lovers, however, are hardly
ready to reward them for the humane treatment which they inherently deserve,
or to be trustful of a man who has unpredictably abused them long-term.
A woman's failure to be congratulatory as the man expects may lead
to further abuse.

5. Anger control too frequently lets the community off the hook. It
would have the community think that the problem of wife abuse is being
“treated.” Abuse becomes, then, a problem of psychologically deficient
men who loose their temper and impulsively abuse rather than of inadequate
protection services, reduced opportunities, and second class citizenry
for women. In sum, anger control is less threatening to the community
and therefore an easier way for counselors to gain acceptance for their
programs. The more explicitly antisexist programs imply that men
in general have to do some changing in order to undo the social conditions
that give rise to wife abuse. This of course is a challenging notion for
some community leaders to accept, because it suggests that they too have
a responsibility in working to end abuse, not just the program counselors.

6. Anger control does not sufficiently address the normative reinforcements
for wife abuse and violence toward women in general. Most of the
literature indicates that wife abuse is a social problem embedded in a
sexist patriarchal social structure (Dobash and Dobash, 1979; Martin, 1976;
Pagelow, 1981; Walker, 1979). Anger control, however, tends
to psychologize the abuse rather than accept the more uncomfortable task
of confronting the economic, social and political injustices that perpetuate
the problem. Prompting men to confront patriarchy in themselves and
others therefore should be the central thrust of program for batterers.

ALTERNATIVES TO ANGER CONTROLWe would like to offer two alternatives to anger control treatment
that minimize the shortcomings of anger control with batterers, while still
helping batterers to end their abuse. One alternative is a resocialization
program, like RAVEN of St. Louis, in which anger control is subordinate
to changing sex-role stereotypes that contribute to men's tendency to control
women (Gondolf, 1985a). The second alternative is a theme-centered
discussion program on battering that deletes anger control techniques,
like Second Step in Pittsburgh (Russell, 1984). (We recognize that a third
alternative may be found in the accountability workshops of the Duluth,
Minnesota, [Pence, 1983] and New City, New York, (Frank and Houghton, 1980],
which operate much like the "drunk driving" classes required by some states.)
Our clinical observations and informal follow-ups lead us to believe that
the effectiveness of such alternatives equals that of other anger control
programs, if it does not surpasses them (Gondolf, 1985c, 1984). At least,
the demonstrated viability of such alternatives warrants further consideration.

In the first alternative of a resocialization program, anger is identified
as another means men use to get their way. The socalled provocations of
anger are seen as the batterers own distortions derived from his sex role
expectations and objectification of women. For instance, the batterer's
tendency to label arousal as anger is related to the male sex role stereotype
that would have men suppress feelings. The inclination to act out anger
in aggressive and violent behavior is reinforced by a patriarchal social
structure that rewards coercive power and brute force. The anger
in this approach becomes secondary rather than primary. It is just
one more kind of control based on a false sense of manhood.

The thrust of this more integrated approach is to prompt men to undo
sex roles and take social action. This can be accomplished through
such activities as speakers from local women shelters, films on male sex
roles, sexist language exercises, macro-analysis diagrams, charting
household duties and decision making, and logs of controlling behaviors.
Social action can be promoted through a variety of activities: requiring
service to the program, supporting community action organizations, public
speaking on wife abuse, organizing a follow-up men's group, and staffing
a men's center.

The second alternative of the theme-centered approach explores unresolved
masculine issues and projects positive images of personal growth, nurturance,
intimacy and nonviolence through discussion of the commonalities of abusive
men. Each meeting begins with the group leader stating a prescribed
theme. These themes are worded as positive projections of some unresolved
issue around violence or abuse. Some of the themes are "Shouldering
My Responsibility," "Shifting the Focus of My Control," Forming Friendships,"
" Balancing the Need for Closeness and Distance," and "The Challenge of
Change." The batterers reflect in silence on how the theme
pertains to them, what they would like to contribute to the group with
regard to the theme, and what they would like to receive from the group
in this regard.

A discussion of the theme then develops following the two group leaders'
example and the group guidelines, which include speaking for oneself, addressing
conflicts among group members, and limiting generalizations.
The group leaders also promote a balanced discussion of the personal experiences,
the group process, and the task of stopping abuse. These group dynamics
appear to move the men more directly toward the long-term change process.
In a sense, they remove the crutch of anger control and more squarely face
the issues underlying wife abuse.

Second Step, also, requires a responsibility plan to be used in lieu
of the anger control "time-outs," common to most batterer programs. In
the responsibility plan, each batterer outlines steps to build a safer
environment for his family and acquaintances. The men develop their plans
drawing on other group members advice and their wives' assessment (if she
is willing to offer it).

This sort of planning process moves beyond the mechanistic nature
of a "time out" technique in which the batter signals his mate that
he is approaching the point of becoming violent and leaves the premises
for a designated period of time. While the time outs may provide some measure
of safety for the abused woman, the initiative remains at the batterer's
discretion. A responsibility plan might assure a woman access to shelter
services in such a situation or specify that a friend or relative spend
the night in the house. Furthermore, some battered women see time
outs as one more ploy to "shut them up." The man leaves as soon as
she begins to speak out or challenge him, and often with no assurance when
and in what condition he will return.

CONCLUSIONWe contend that the popularity of anger control needs to be carefully
reconsidered. In the rush toward expedient treatment, a disservice
may be done to battered women and batterers. For one, the cessation
of wife abuse is accomplished through a change process that anger control
may cut short. Furthermore, anger control tends to be misused by
batterers who are characterized by their extensive denial, objectification
of women, predilection for rigid control, and an overinflated sense of
privilege. Moreover, anger control does not appear to address the
central issues of the abuse -- the control of women rooted in a sexist
society.

While anger control may assist some men, we are concerned that it does
not really aid many other batterers and may in fact make matters worse
for them and their victims. Anger and wife abuse are not necessarily directly
related. Therefore men who control their anger are not necessarily
less likely to be abusers. They and their wives may think so, become
less vigilant, and continue in the cycle of violence. In fact, men
and women should be wary of any approach that poses a quick fix or gimmick
for solving any deeply embedded social problem like wife abuse. This
wariness will not only keep them alert to tendencies toward abuse, but
also prompt a commitment to the the long-haul of recovery.

Batterers, like recovering alcoholics, need long-term reeducation and
monitoring. That is, "getting better" for the batterer means a lifelong
commitment to abstinence from abuse with many external supports.
Program, community, and societal efforts to curb problems like alcohol
abuse appear to be having a positive effect. This same sort of movement
needs to occur against wife abuse. Anger control may divert us from
such an undertaking.

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